Beacon's Renaissance and Future...

Something happened in Beacon around ten years ago which started a cascade of events that has brought Beacon to a near story book renaissance.  Master builder, Ron Sauers saw beyond the neglect of Main Street historic buildings and restored a section on the East end of Main Street, with great detail and attention to their circa 1800 character. Today it is Beacon's antique district and is rapidly becoming the focus of afternoon treasure hunters. 

Soon after the revitalization of East Main St.,  Scenic Hudson, an environmental organization known for preserving Hudson River views, acquired a 1,000 acre conservation forest on the Fishkill Ridge, adjacent to the Hudson Highlands State Park and Beacon. This property includes the 1,531-foot Mount Beacon, the City's namesake and defining signature view from the Hudson River looking east. The above picture was taken from its crest looking west over the City toward the Newburgh Beacon Bridge spanning the Hudson River. From this view, it is not hard to understand why Beacon has been a continuous recipient of the "Tree City USA" award. A few years later, Scenic Hudson acquired the adjacent property at the base of Mt. Beacon and point of origin of the Incline Railway.  They named it The Gateway Park and when complete it will offer a scenic platform half way up Mt. Beacon and provide hiking access to the Fishkill Ridge. 

Scenic Hudson was most likely the first organization to recognize something unique about Beacon. It has more than just natural beauty, it has residents who have a deep sense of identification and affection for their City.  With that as added incentive, Scenic Hudson responded positively with two more community projects. They acquired a large area of waterfront property called Beacon Landing and engaged the city's residents to help decide its best use. The result is a mixed use plan of shops in a civic plaza, fields, an inn with a convention center, and a promenade to ensure public access to the river and to the adjacent State owned  natural habitat peninsula Dennings Point. (read more)

And while that was going on, Scenic Hudson acquired 12-acres of land at the confluence of the Fishkill Creek, which runs through the City, to the Hudson River . They named it the Madam Brett Park, a trail that renders a nearly two mile walk along the Creek and natural waterfront marsh land. 

What happened next could not have been predicted. Flying a small prop plane up the Hudson River, Michael Govan, the Director of  the DIA Center for the Arts, a renowned Manhattan based contemporary art museum, passed over a large empty factory building of approximately 300,000 square feet, situated on 26 acres of land at the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon. He immediately identified it as the ideal location for their permanent collection. "I've often said that we couldn't build a museum that was better suited if we started from scratch," he said referring to the classic 1920 industrial saw tooth roof skylight design that will create a natural light environment ideal for the presentation of art. Included in the collection will be Andy Warhol's 430 foot long series of "shadow" paintings. DIA is expected to be the largest contemporary art museum in the north east and will attract 60,000 visitors a year to Beacon. The cost  for restoration is $15 million dollars. State and regional government support for the project is estimated at $2.8 million. The building was generously donated to DIA by the International Paper Company. (Read more)

Beacon already had in its midst a world class art foundry. Tallix has been the work place for Major American artists for years and is the birthplace of  the world's largest bronze of a horse designed by Leonardo da Vinci now in Italy, and the Korean War Memorial located in Washington D.C. (Read more)

With art as the center of Beacon's renaissance, Beacon Terminals Associates, L.P. followed the theme and has become Beacon's largest landowner. Beacon Terminals Associates, L.P. is a real estate investment and redevelopment company located in New York City. Their plans are to renovate abandoned industrial buildings in the pursuit of art, commerce and affordable living. Highlighting their plans are to build a 600 seat theater, studio's for individual artists a small art museum and an inn all to be located at a former hat and textile factory also on the Fishkill Creek called Beacon Terminals. Adjacent to the property crossing the creek is one of the two  remaining bow bridges in the United States which were built during the Civil War and the Scenic Hudson Madam Brett Trail.

Another exciting project of Beacon Terminals Associates, L.P. and local developers include a destination theme restaurant with bed and breakfast rooms. It is called The Round House, and will be located at the site of a semi-circular brick building, footed in the Fishkill Creek, with spectacular views of a waterfall and the Mattewan Dam. Other projects include the renovation of industrial buildings into retail outlets for products, grown, developed and or manufactured in the Hudson Valley.  

The Craig House, an 1859 gothic revival estate home on 64 acres, build by General Howland, a civil war general.  The grounds includes unique specimen trees and a grand lawn. A spa facility offering a wide range of traditional and alternative wellness and health care options are planned here, along with a variety of senior retirement and assisted living housing and possibly an inn and catering facility. Efforts are being made to keep the historic scenic vistas protected from development.

And to bring Beacon's unprecedented renaissance full circle, an effort has been underway since 1996 to restore the Mt. Beacon Incline Railway by a local grass roots organization. This one time unique experience brought thousands of visitors to Beacon to ride the steepest incline railway in the world. At the top was the Beaconcrest Hotel and a dance hall which treated visitors to spectacular views of the Hudson River. For many years the Incline Railway was Beacon's primary tourist attraction and a constant source of enjoyment for local residents. (read more at www.inclinerailway.org)

In the fall of 2002 Beacon will have a new state of the art High School complete with computer labs, a performing arts center and community rooms. The school features an array of educational advances for students, including a television and music recording studio, a six-lane swimming pool, a complete fitness center, computer access in numerous classrooms and an art gallery. Some of the facilities will be open to the community. (Read more)
 

Since the doors of the former Beacon High School closed in 2002, the 125,000-square-foot building has been renamed to the Bulldog Studios. Here artists and students coexist under the same roof.  The recent economic slump has put plans on its planned purpose of the Decorative Arts and Design Institute on the back burner.  Today at the Bull Dog Studios artists work in low rental studios approximately 10x10 in size and open the lines of communication about their work with the public and other artists.

The state has chosen Beacon for the home of the coveted Rivers and Estuaries Center on the Hudson which marks the culmination of a three-year process to choose a home for the research center. New York Governor George Pataki envisions it as a worldwide hub for the study of rivers and estuaries like the Hudson River. The research center is expected to employ 500 and draw as many as 7,000 visitors each year, according to the state's strategic plan. Its annual budget would eventually be $63 million, and $132 million would be spent during a four-year construction that won't begin this fiscal year.

Other exciting projects underway include the purchase of a Main Street Trolley, a ferry dock on the waterfront, a 17 acre upscale housing development at the Polo Fields to consist of 19 new single family homes on over two acres each, 54 affordable family dwelling units at the Meadow Ridge project.